A/N- Again, this hasn't been looked at by a Beta. As soon as this tax season is over she can start again, so not too much longer now! I hope I don't have a ridiculous amount of mistakes in these chapters but if I do, I'm sorry!
I've almost finished writing this story now, and to be completely honest it's taken an unexpected turn... that being said I absolutely love it! I'm probably pretty biased though :) I'm also at about 113,000 words as of now, which is about 60,000 words more than anything I've ever written before so I'm really hoping it doesn't get boring or shitty for anyone to read. Strotz and Komekozzy425 have both assured me that it's anything but boring but you know us authors, always doubtful and unsure of our own work. Plus they might be a little biased too...
Anyway, Enjoy!
Chapter Ten
"I've received a distress call from Greengrass Estate, apparently they're being attacked by the Order of the Phoenix in retaliation of being Death Eaters. There have been casualties Justin, so we need your team on the lookout."
Justin Finch-Fletchley nodded grimly before placing his mask on his face – eight or nine witches and wizards surrounded him so they could talk strategy. It was his squad's job to locate bodies and the injured and get them to safety immediately.
"They were attacked ruthlessly!" Tom yelled, riling his crowd up and there were howls of outrage; Hermione couldn't help but to agree and shout out too, the Order were doing awful things, going about everything the wrong way. Why would they feel the need to attack the Greengrass Estate just because they were on opposite sides of the war? As far as Hermione was aware the Greengrasses were about as innocent as they came, for Death Eaters. They barely made an appearance at meetings and definitely didn't join in on raids – Eric Greengrass, Daphne's father, was an important employee of the Ministry and didn't want to be caught doing things that the current minister would frown upon.
"Up to their usual course of action," Blaise said loudly and there were cheers of agreeance from the crowd. Hermione watched as Blaise snapped a mask over his face and she found herself wishing that their masks differed in some way so they could tell each other apart. He patted her on the back once and moved forward towards Tom, the other men copying his actions and following in his wake.
"Please promise you'll be safe," she found herself saying to Draco again, who hadn't put his mask on yet. Worry was churning her stomach and she felt like she wanted to vomit or cry – maybe both.
"We'll be fine," he said quietly, clapping her on the back as the other boys had but holding his hand there a little longer. "We'll let you know when we're back, if we aren't too late."
"Even if it's late, please find me," she said seriously and he met her eyes before fixing his mask into place. He removed his hand and Hermione suddenly felt cold as he moved away from her to join his squad, the men listening attentively to what he was saying. She was impressed with the way he could command them but still remain best friends with them at the same time. It spoke volumes about who he really was as a person, how strong he was.
She blinked and they were gone.
/
Draco materialized at the gates of Greengrass manor, his friends joining him immediately. They moved together as one as other squads of Death Eaters appeared around them and all went in different directions; they had been trained thoroughly and Draco was certain that the Order didn't have different groups within it with specific tasks to perform.
Hopefully Justin and his group could find the casualties and hurt and get them out quickly; it sounded like a huge fight was going on inside.
"This way," he said quietly, but loud enough for his friends to follow him. He followed the sounds of screams and explosions but before they got too far they were intercepted by his fool of a cousin and her werewolf husband. He still thought it was ridiculous that they didn't wear anything to hide their identities.
"Stupefy," Remus Lupin shouted immediately, but Draco dodged the spell with ease and flung his own non-verbal spell in retaliation – he didn't want to speak aloud because he was fairly sure his old teacher and cousin would recognize his voice.
"We want her back," Nymphadora said, her voice low and threatening. "That's all we want."
"Who?" Blaise asked, his voice deeper than it usually was when he spoke.
"Hermione Granger! We know some boys of yours attacked her in the forest before apparating away with her a few weeks ago."
Draco couldn't help the bark of laughter that tore from his throat upon hearing those words but his cousin and her husband obviously took it the wrong way. If only they knew the truth.
"I don't think rape is funny," Tonks said loudly, as Remus threw a spell at Theo. His friend tried to dodge but was hit in the arm, his hiss of pain was loud enough for Draco to hear it clearly and he glanced at his friend quickly to see blood pooling on the floor.
"Incarcerous!" he shouted, wrapping the werewolf in ropes, causing him to immediately fall to the floor with a yell of surprise. Draco was tired of playing games and he quickly made the decision that he didn't care if his cousin recognized him anymore; he turned to her with a steely glint in his grey eyes.
"If you for one moment believe that the Dark Lord would purposely cause harm to someone he wanted on his side then you're more idiotic than I thought."
"We know what happened," she hissed, holding her wand toward him defensively as her husband wriggled on the floor. "We know everything."
"You know nothing!" Blaise screamed, angry at being blamed for raping the girl he considered a close friend. "You're all morons and you're following an old liar and a fool."
"Stupefy!" Greg, who had been hanging back from the argument, bit out harshly, the spell hitting Tonks in the middle of the chest.
"You're all foul," Remus spit from his spot on the floor. "Just bring her back."
"Even if she wanted to go back I wouldn't bring her," Draco said, shrugging carelessly. "She's not interested in joining her rapist in a losing battle. Come on guys," and with that the young Death Eaters turned away from their former teacher and followed the noises to the main fight.
/
Hermione was sitting on the stairs in the entrance hall that led to the second floor and their bedrooms, anxiety and nervousness twisting her guts as she traced the Dark Mark on her arm unconsciously. If they didn't come back safely she would kill them herself for making her worry so much; but she knew she should learn to deal with things like this because it was going to be a common occurrence.
They had only been gone for about fifteen minutes when a group of Death Eaters materialized in the middle of the room, a harsh howling emanating from within them. Hermione jumped to her feet and rushed toward the group, as did figures of more people who were left behind; the group parted as she got closer and what she saw made her want to faint – it was much too familiar, yet so much worse.
Daphne Greengrass was on the floor between them, the loud wailing dying down some; her body was completely ruined and she was covered in blood and burns, like whoever did this had taken a fiery hot poker from a fire and pressed it to her skin. She had numerous stab wounds and one on her stomach was bleeding profusely on the otherwise impeccable marble floor; her face was a mask of blood and bruises and her Dark Mark had been carved out of her forearm ruthlessly. Hermione had to wonder how she had been hurt so drastically in the time between the distress call was issued and now – it had only been about twenty minutes, after all, and Hermione knew that there was no way the bruises covering the girl had formed in such a short amount of time.
"Move," she yelled, whipping out her wand and rushing forward before dropping to her knees beside Daphne and starting to heal her wounds, but there were just too many to for Hermione to deal with and she really didn't have any idea where to start. She hadn't been trained nearly as thoroughly as Draco. She'd only read a few books about it, goddammit! Why hadn't she taken it more seriously?!
Daphne was sobbing uncontrollably and then she suddenly stopped and began rasping out words quickly.
"Get a healer!" Someone screamed, but Hermione leaned closer to hear what the girl was saying. The room went dead silent as everyone pressed in closer to hear the words Daphne was forcing out.
"The Weasleys… been there for weeks… Fred… George… I escaped… called Tom… Astoria," Daphne fought down the hysterical sobs, "Astoria's dead… so are mum and dad… stasis charm on them…" Hermione was listening intently, feeling sick to her stomach. The Weasleys. Apparently the brothers felt the need to ruin many lives before they were happy with their own. "Wanted info… I don't know anything… You must… You must… win…" and then she went completely still.
Hermione's eyes widened as she reached out a hand to the girl, hoping it wasn't true and that she hadn't just watched her die, but when she shook her arm roughly – knowing it would be painful considering her injuries – she didn't move, didn't even blink.
"Oh, Merlin," she said breathlessly, shaking the girl harder. "Daphne!" she screamed, but nothing would bring the girl back since death had already claimed her. Hermione felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see Justin standing beside her, looking grim and upset as he reached out to take her hand to help her to her feet. She accepted it and stood up slowly, totally shocked by everything that had just occurred.
"I'm sorry," Justin said. "This is a harsh reality of the war, though, and it just shows we need to do everything we can to win this thing."
Hermione nodded and walked away, resuming her position on the stairs and wiping the tears from her eyes quickly so no one would notice how upset she was. Ron hadn't destroyed her nearly as bad as his brothers did the girl she'd just watched die but she felt a strange comradery with her. Hermione had been saved and then she had stayed in the manor to train, keeping herself distanced from the war, but she had been saved quickly enough to live; Daphne hadn't been so lucky. It broke Hermione's heart.
Hermione watched as some healers arrived too late and covered the girls' body with a dark sheet before hovering her toward the fireplace and back to St. Mungo's. Justin got his team back together to go search for the bodies of the Greengrass family, since Daphne had just confirmed that they'd all been murdered.
They apparated away as a team.
Hermione sighed and was suddenly even more worried about her friends and fiancé.
/
Draco and his squad entered a large ballroom where spells and hexes were flying wildly and Draco was shocked to see that Harry Potter was there; he had only seen him in a few other raids over the years. Blaise broke off to the right and Theo followed, still bleeding from the arm but it didn't seem to be bothering him; both men were sending jinxes at their adversaries efficiently and Greg and Vincent's bulky figures could be seen duelling a group of people to the left.
A jet of light missed Draco's ear by an inch and he turned quickly to see Ron Weasley himself running toward him, his face red and his arms pumping with his long strides. Rage took over every sense that Draco possessed and he was shocked by how quickly it had taken over – he wasn't even this mad when he had found Hermione, but it was probably because he hadn't spent even more than a minute of his life in her presence at that point.
He felt something more toward her now and not just because she was his fiancé. He knew that she was ridiculously strong and hated to show anyone even a tiny bit of weakness; she was curious and always wanted to learn and she was one of the bravest women he had ever met. She wanted to learn to throw knives as an alternative weapon and pushed herself to the limit, determined to be the best she could be. Hermione didn't deserve the things this bastard had done to her and before Draco knew it he was in a full on duel with the ginger haired man, shouting curses and hexes that were far worse than any he had used against the Order in a long time.
He truly wouldn't mind killing the man.
Ron was fighting to the death, it seemed, as he threw a 'Sectumsempra' curse that missed Draco's head by mere inches. The blond backed away a little bit and tripped backwards over a piece of the wall, the side of his mask catching on a piece of stone and tearing off of his face. Ron whooped in glee as he realized who was before him and he raised his wand with a menacing look on his face. It was when Draco was scrambling back to his feet that he saw the long brown hair spilling over pieces of concrete and brick, distracted enough to not even realize his mask was missing.
"Astoria," he breathed, looking down, she was almost buried by the pieces of wall, but her upper body was clear of debris and Draco thought she may have been there for quite a while. He completely forgot about Ron as he looked into her empty eyes – death had definitely taken her. He wasn't overly close to the Greengrass family, but their parents were friends so he had seen the two sisters throughout his life since he was a child. They came to meetings sometimes but they weren't summoned often because they were the lower tier of Death Eaters – Eric's job was too sensitive for them to be around for a lot of the missions and raids. He reached out and closed her eyelids before sending his patronus to the recovery team so they would know roughly where she was; as he was focused on a happy thought in the middle of this hell a spell ripped into his back.
He instantly felt the explosion of pain and fell forward onto his face, his teeth sinking into his tongue; blood pooled inside his mouth and spilled out over his chin but the pain from the curse was worse. His muscular body started twitching and he felt like his very skin cells were burning off, it was agony, but he tried to fight it – he couldn't let Weasley get one over on him.
Draco was having problems focusing on anything but the pain and it felt as though his body was on fire; his tendons were straining harshly as his body convulsed. He fought the convulsions as he thought about the bushy haired witch at his house waiting for him and his friends to return unscathed; she'd asked him to be safe, asked him to promise, even, and he allowed himself to get distracted enough to take a Cruciatus Curse in the back.
He couldn't allow himself to be the next person to disappoint her; she'd been through so much anguish in the last weeks that he just couldn't bring himself to cause her more pain. Thinking about her ridiculous hair and soft brown eyes, her perfect bow lips and the dimple that appeared in her left cheek whenever she smiled at him helped him focus on what he needed to do. It took all of his willpower to force his wand arm to turn toward the red headed bastard and grunt "Stupefy."
Ron was so caught off guard by the fact that Draco was overpowering the curse that he didn't even think of defending himself and he dropped to the floor, instantly unconscious. The Cruciatus Curse was lifted from Draco immediately and he laid on the floor panting, trying to get his breath back while he realized what he had just done. He was shocked that he was able to fight through the excruciating pain long enough to defend himself; he'd never heard of anyone doing something like that before.
"Are you okay, mate?" Blaise asked after he had been sitting on the floor for a moment or two. Draco hadn't realized his friend had come to his side until he spoke.
"I think so," Draco groaned as he attempted to stand.
"They've fled, I think they were too outnumbered," Blaise said, taking hold of Draco's arm and apparating back to Malfoy manor.
Hermione was in his face instantly, her cheeks slightly wet and drained of colour and her eyes wild, she looked incredibly upset and he had a feeling he wasn't the sole reason for her distress. "What happened?!" she exclaimed, wiping at his face with her sleeve roughly, almost hysterically.
"Get off," Draco said, batting her hands away. He was dead tired and his muscles didn't seem to want to work; Blaise was supporting him and then Greg was there, helping Blaise hold him upright. Theo was standing to the side with Vince, holding his arm at a strange angle and Hermione could see the blood beneath a rip in his sleeve.
"What happened?" she asked again, this time calmer but her eyes were still wild and haunted. Draco was going to respond as nicely as he could in his exhaustion but Tom's voice broke through the noise in the entrance hall.
"The Order of the Phoenix has once again fled after they've attacked an innocent family's house. I regret to inform you all that the entire Greengrass family has been murdered; their two daughters, Astoria and Daphne were found on opposite sides of the manor. Astoria seemed to be murdered with a quick killing curse, but Daphne had been tortured before her death; they were eighteen and twenty years old, respectively. I spoke to the Healers just moments ago and they informed me that Daphne had been in captivity with her abusers for at least two weeks and was tortured and raped repeatedly."
Draco turned to Hermione at those words because he just knew that she had seen everything, but she had her face turned away from him and his friends. That would have been one of the worst things for her to see and he was sincerely hoping it hadn't hit her too hard.
"Daphne was brought back and told Justin's squad, as well as some stragglers here, that the Weasleys had been in her house for weeks, killing her parents and younger sister when they first arrived and placing a stasis charm on them to keep their bodies intact. They then took it upon themselves to torture her for information that she didn't have! She was unable to be saved and immediately after informing the group about what had happened, she passed into the waiting arms of death. The Order is getting out of hand!" Tom shouted, riling his men up.
Everyone looked apologetic about what had happened and Hermione was still purposely avoiding Draco's stunned gaze.
"Those of you who were attacked and hurt, please go to the sick rooms – everyone else needs to reconvene in the ballroom while I call the rest of our supporters. We're having an emergency meeting as soon as possible; something needs to be done about the Order's continuous attacks on our families."
"Let's go," Blaise said, he and Greg moving Draco to a room near the entrance hall – only two other people were taken into the sick rooms and Hermione hurried in behind her friends as Draco was laid on the bed. They all removed their masks and Hermione was glad to see their faces; she felt strangely protective of and close to these men; seeing their faces without the masks let her know that they had definitely all made it back to her. They had saved her from death and for that she would always be grateful, especially after seeing what had happened to poor Daphne.
These men were her life now. She had no other friends to watch her back; this was it for her and if they weren't safe then she thought she might honestly lose her shit.
"Please tell me what happened," she said, hoping they wouldn't question her about what she had witnessed; she accidentally met Draco's eyes and could see that he knew she had been present for Daphne's arrival. She was leaning against the wall with one shoulder and her arms were crossed tightly across her chest. The anger in her eyes was apparent to everyone present but only Draco could see the fear and sorrow in them as well.
Blaise moved toward Theo and basically ripped the man's robes off so he could heal the deep cut on his arm; once he was done Hermione saw them look into each other's eyes for a moment longer than would have been normal if they were only friends. Blaise and Theo leaned back against the wall so close to each other their legs were touching and Greg leaned against the opposite wall and stared at her as though he was trying to figure something out. Draco took a deep breath before finally looking at her, "Weasley got me with the Cruciatus when I was distracted by the body of Astoria Greengrass."
"You found her?" Hermione asked, her voice softening slightly.
Draco only nodded, grimacing in pain.
"Do you think Weasley attacked you because he knew who you were?" she asked, the anger back in her voice. It wasn't lost on Draco that she didn't use Ron's first name.
Draco shook his head no. "He wouldn't have recognized me," Draco said, but Blaise stopped him. "You aren't wearing your mask, Draco, and you weren't when I found you. It fell off at some point, obviously, and I saw that pricks face when he was cursing you – he was thrilled at the opportunity to get you."
"The Order thinks we're the ones who attacked you, Hermione," Vince said, and when he met her eyes Hermione could see the humiliation there. Even the fact that someone would think he was a rapist was obviously hurting him deep down; he was one of the kindest people she had ever met.
"Potter obviously told them that," she said, her eyes glinting.
"My cousin and her werewolf husband found us first and she said all they want is to get you back; I have the feeling they're going to keep the attacks coming until they find you," Draco said, and then he smiled softly. "I told her even if you wanted to go back I wasn't sure I'd allow it, Hermione. Your place is here now and you're to be my wife – those idiots aren't taking you."
Hermione stared at him for a moment before she turned on her heel and steamed out of the room, surprising everyone present. She rushed to the ballroom to speak to Tom before he started the meeting and was surprised to see that the room was already packed full of people.
"Tom," she called upon seeing her leader and he stopped walking and turned to her, a small smile gracing his handsome features upon seeing who it was calling his name. He approached her, wary of the anger in her eyes and the fact that he knew she had seen Daphne – he hadn't witnessed Hermione's injuries first hand but he'd been told about them and knew it would have been hard for her to stomach.
Justin had offered up his memory about what had occurred and he saw that Hermione wanted to help the girl and just couldn't; he also saw the tears in her eyes as Justin lifted her to her feet.
Hermione met him halfway and said, "I want them to see that I'm aligned with you. You have to allow me to go on the next raid, please, Draco told me that they'll continue to attack until they've got me back. Everything is twisted and they think it was your men who attacked me, not the other way around and what was done to Daphne was inexcusable. They need to see the truth and they need to pay for what was done."
"Are you saying you want to plan a raid? You know I can't allow you to go until you've been totally cleared by Draco."
"I don't want to plan a raid, per se, but I think if I went on the next raid and 'accidentally' lost my mask mid battle, maybe even ripped my robes or something to show my mark then they'd know I'm here on my own accord. If we attack one of their homes it should help get the message across."
Tom blinked at her in surprise.
"If they were to see me with the Death Eaters, marked and fighting for your side, they should stop trying to force me back by killing and torturing anyone they come across."
"You realize that if we attack one of their homes we won't be just defending ourselves with hexes and jinxes? It would be death blows."
"I understand," she said, surprised she didn't have any guilty thoughts about condemning a family she'd used to be friends with to their deaths – no one had done a thing to help her in the last two years and mostly everyone had gone out of their way to ignore her and make her feel inconsequential.
"Let me think about it. You go join your friends, you don't need to stay for the meeting."
Hermione smiled gratefully at her leader before turning and fleeing back to the sick room that held Draco. When she opened the door he was being forcibly held down by Greg while Theo was trying to tip a potion down his throat.
"Stop it, you bloody bastards! I don't want to be knocked out! I'll be fine."
Hermione could tell he was exhausting himself quickly but she didn't want him mad at his friends for making him do something he didn't want to do. She moved forward and plucked the vial from Theo's fingers, causing him to look at her with narrowed eyes. "Stop fighting him, Greg. Draco, grow up and drink the fucking potion so you can rest and your muscles can heal."
"I don't need to rest," he argued as Greg backed off. "I need to train."
"Stop being ridiculous," she spat. "You can barely walk. Drink it," she demanded, and held the vial out to him with a steady hand. He glared at her but had to admit that she was right.
"What are you going to drink to get some sleep tonight, Hermione?" he asked, eyeing her knowingly.
"Don't worry about me," she said after swallowing hard, waggling the potion in front of his face. He sighed, knowing an argument was pointless at that moment, every movement hurt; his arm screamed in protest as he reached out to take the vial. He grasped the cool glass in clumsy fingers and put it to his mouth where he swallowed it and then quickly made himself comfortable, knowing he'd be sleeping within minutes.
"Fucking Weasley," he groaned, and the other four males looked at Hermione in awe – Draco hated potions in every way shape and form, he hated to medicate and she just got him to take a potion he had been arguing against without even batting an eye. His eyes fluttered shut but reopened when he felt a warm cloth on his face. Granger was standing directly in front of him and held a cloth tinged pink in her hand, she reached forward and rubbed his skin again and that was the first time he realized he was bloody, but his exhausted brow creased when he realized her eyes looked shiny with unshed tears.
He wanted to question her about it even though he knew she wasn't alright, but he could barely open his mouth and keep his eyes from fluttering so he knew it was a lost cause.
His tired eyes glanced around the room and he could see Blaise over Granger's shoulder smiling softly at them. As Draco's eyes closed firmly, unable to fight off the sleep any longer, he realized that his men were very on board with their upcoming marriage.
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